Since late August, a wide variety of mooncakes have been on sale at stalls along such main streets as Le Dinh Duong, Nguyen Tri Phuong, Dien Bien Phu, and Ngo Quyen, in the buildup to the Mid-autumn Festival, which this year falls on 24 September.

A Huu Nghi mooncake stall on Le Dinh Duong Street

Most of the stalls are selling products of renowned Vietnamese brand names, including Kinh Do, Bibica, Dong Khanh, and Huu Nghi. 

Ms Duong Thi Quynh Chi, the owner of a Kinh Do mooncake stall on Le Dinh Duong Street, said that since late August she has sold 50% of the total of the displayed cakes. She added the best-sellers were traditional baked and snow-skin mooncakes, and their prices were now ranging between 38,000 VND and 72,000 VND each.

Ms Chi noted that the Kinh Do Corporation has developed some new types of mooncakes. Included were snow skin mooncakes without eggs but filled with mung bean paste, ones without eggs but filled with coconut custard, and ones with a salted duck egg yolk and lotus seed paste.

Mr Tran Van Long, a sale manager of the Ha Noi-based Huu Nghi Food Company, remarked in addition to tradition mooncakes, his company has launched numerous high-grade products such as mooncake boxes namely ‘Prosperity’, ‘Autumn Full Moon’ and ‘Reunion’ ranging from 400,000 VND to 650,000 VND each.

In addition to products with renowned Vietnamese brand names, various types of home-made mooncakes are on sale at some local markets.

Most notably, a variety of foreign mooncakes are attracting a great deal of attention from young buyers. Although they are advertised to be imported from Taiwan, Japan, and China, they are on sale at low cost. This is also a challenge for relevant local agencies in checking and monitoring the quality of mooncakes in local markets.

Recently, a group from the Da Nang Market Management Bureau has made inspection visits to some mooncake-making establishments across the city. The intention is to check the quality of their products, and to promptly detect and deal with any businesses violating the city’s regulations on food safety and hygiene.